Starmer condemned the violence on Saturday and said the right to freedom of expression and violent disorder were “very different things”, adding that “no violence can ever be justified”.
Some of the protests did not escalate into violence: in the southwestern city of Bristol, one group chanted “we want our country back” while others chanted “England till death”, and there were clashes with counter-protesters chanting “get racists out of our town”.
The latest protests follow a week of violence across the country following the stabbing deaths of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in the town of Southport, which was centred around a false conspiracy theory spread on social media that the attacker was a Muslim, an asylum seeker or both.
Less than three hours after the attack, an AI-generated image was shared on X by the account “Europe Invasion,” showing a man dressed in traditional Islamic dress brandishing a knife outside the British Parliament. The post has since been viewed more than 900,000 times.
A TikTok account calling for protests near the site of the attack – one that had not previously posted there – also garnered nearly 60,000 views in a few hours, a Tech Against Terrorism spokesman told the Guardian.
And after a brief period of national mourning for the girls, their hometown of Southport was rocked by violence, with mobs of mostly white men hurling bottles and bricks at police officers and a mosque.
A media ban on publishing the names of suspects under the age of 18 was eventually lifted to prevent the spread of misinformation after false names were circulated online.
Police said the suspect, Axel Rudakbana, 17, was born in Cardiff, Wales, and had lived in the village near Southport for many years. The motive for the stabbing remains unknown.
But violence by far-right elements, fuelled by a surge in support in Britain’s recent general election and a long-standing perception that mass immigration is draining the country’s resources and endangering children, continues.
And in another sign of how effectively the far-right operates online, the calls for mobilization are being spearheaded by a number of influential figures who have sizable followings but are not on the ground.
Tommy Robinson, founder of the far-right English Defence League, who fled Britain last week where he was due to appear in court on contempt charges, was one of the first to call for nationwide protests, urging his 800,000 X followers to “take to the streets”. Other online celebrities, such as Andrew Tait, an internet influencer who remains in Romania as he prepares to stand trial on sex trafficking charges, have said in X videos that his attackers were “illegal immigrants”.
More than 30 protests are planned over the weekend, with thousands of extra riot police on standby with more demonstrations expected on Sunday.
Around 100 pro-refugee protesters gathered outside a hotel in Rotherham believed to be holding asylum seekers early Sunday afternoon, chanting “refugees are welcome here,” while anti-asylum seeker groups hurled objects at the hotel, smashed windows and set bins on fire. At least one police officer was injured, according to the BBC.
Britain’s police minister told BBC radio on Sunday that “anyone who goes out and attacks police officers, loots shops, destroys property and terrorizes communities will face the consequences,” and police officers across the country unanimously condemned the violence.
Starmer on Sunday called the attack on the hotel a “coordinated and violent assault” and blamed “marauders” for setting it on fire and terrorising residents and staff.
The centre-left Labour Party recently won a landslide victory in the UK elections in July, but its leftward shift came in conjunction with growing support for the far-right Reform UK Party, which won four million votes.
And Labour’s success was at least partly due to the growing popularity of the far right, which split the right-wing vote and caused many Conservative MPs to lose their seats.
The recent protests dispel the idea that Starmer’s centre-left government has warded off the rise of the continent’s rising far-right movement: there remains an angry and active far-right undercurrent behind Starmer’s majority that continues to resonate.
